AVON – A convicted felon from Dedham masterminded the kidnapping and possible murder of an Avon father with the help of two drug users and a police officer.

He did it because a woman chose the victim over him.

That is what prosecutors say Alfred Ricci, 45, of Canton told police during an investigation into the abduction of 37-year-old James Robertson, a father of two young children who was taken from his home on New Year’s Day by two men with guns and badges.

Robertson has not been seen since and court records show his abduction is being investigated as a homicide.

Ricci and three other men, including a Dedham police officer, have been charged in connection with Robertson’s kidnapping.

James Feeney, 44, orchestrated the kidnapping, leveraging the trio with the drug debts they owed him, according to a statement by Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey included in court records.

On Thursday, however, Ricci’s court-appointed attorney disputed that account.

Ricci was arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court on his previous charge of kidnapping Robertson. All four men have now been arraigned in Superior Court, and all but one remain held on high bail.

Attorney Robert M. Griffin entered a not guilty plea Thursday on behalf of his client, who did not appear out of concern that his face would be shown to witnesses sitting in court.

Ricci was held on $200,000 cash bail.

Griffin said that the prosecutor’s version of events is an “interpretation” of what investigators say Ricci told them.

“That’s the government’s characterization of what he may or may not have said,” Griffin said. “Nobody has identified him as being involved in the crime.”

At least one of the accused men may have previously been identified.

Scott Morrison, 46, of Norfolk was picked out of a lineup as one of two men claiming to be probation officials who took Robertson on New Year’s Day from his parent’s home in Avon.

Morrison, accompanied by Ricci, talked to the victim and his family the day of the kidnapping and drove the vehicle used in the crime, according to court records.

The two men allegedly used a badge and Robertson’s probation records, which prosecutors say were provided to Feeney by Michael Schoener, 40, the Dedham police officer.

Schoener pleaded innocent last Wednesday to being an accessory before the fact of kidnapping. His father posted $5,000 cash bail the next day, according to court records.

After telling Robertson they were to escort him to a probation-related urine test, Morrison and Ricci allegedly brought him instead to Ricci’s home in Canton, where they turned over Robertson to Feeney.

Page 2 of 2 - Phone records described in the court documents put all three defendants at the home early that afternoon and again later in the day.

To get the men’s cooperation, Feeney promised he would erase Morrison and Ricci’s drug debts and provide them with additional prescription pills if they assisted with the kidnapping, the district attorney said Ricci told police.

Search warrants executed at Feeney and Ricci’s homes turned up guns and other evidence.

In late February, police searched Feeney’s Dedham apartment after arresting him for selling a prescription opioid painkiller to someone in Westwood. Officers found four unlicensed guns and ammunition, and charged Feeney with illegal possession of weapons.

Investigators also found photographs of Robertson and a duffel bag containing zip ties, a police baton and handcuffs.

In May, police found four rifles and three handguns at Ricci’s home. He did not have valid licenses for the weapons, but has not been charged with their possession.

Feeney told police that Robertson’s body will never be found, according to court records. Morrison, however, allegedly told investigators that the victim’s body was “recoverable.”